OT: Internet Fraud

I recently sold my Canon SD200 Elph for $200 because I wanted to upgrade to something nicer. After doing some research, I decided to (which had good reviews other than a very weak flash).

I found a great deal (too good to be true) -- only $206, well below what other stores were charging. There were subtle warning signs, but the company was just barely credible enough -- no fake ISP address, had good reviews from another web page ranking retailers (also fraudulent), and the web page was just poor enough to be suspicious, but good enough that I thought the reason they were able to sell so cheaply was that they were more of a bare-bones operation.

In hindsight there were other warning signs, like shipping costing 6% for ground, but 8% for expedited.

After I placed the order, I got an e-mail asking me to call to confirm my order.

I will spare the details and cut to the chase. When I called they tried to sell me all sorts of add-ons, but things clicked when he asked whethter I wanted the "2-hour battery" or the "5-hour battery". Hmm, since when was digital camera power rated in number of hours! (rather than number of shots).

I said I wanted to cancel, and he yelled some profanity I won't repeat and hung up on me.

Here's a link to others experiences with this blatantly fraudulent and criminal company with pages and pages of the same modus operandi complaints that continues to operate:

including credit card fraud. I am so grateful that I did some after the fact web searches. I had to cancel my credit card, which was really a debit card, and I will never use a debit card again to order anything on the Internet.

The link above is worth checking out to see just how pathetically clumsy those kinds of criminals can "operate" and still get away with it for months and months, and how the NY Attourney General doesn't even reply to customer complaints.

It is mind-boggling how they have used the exact same tactics, with a huge number of victims and yet they still operate ...

Journey